Running Bear's January 2022 Coffee Shop


Status
Not open for further replies.
Got a bit of shoveling done today on the driveway. Just can't seem to get excited about clearing the whole driveway. Just enough to get to the truck. It'll prolly all be melted by Thursday anyway. I want to be able to get out to the cigar lounge tomorrow afternoon though.
My daughter has lost all electric power today and was planning to just seal off one room with the fireplace to stay warm with the kids. Somehow the window screen on the fireplace got broke so she didn't want to have a fire going in there. Now they are just bundling up in blankets to stay warm. Still no power. Roads aren't plowed for her to come to my house.
My solar panels are under about 5" of snow so no output today. They should melt through tomorrow, and I'll be back in production.
 
christian privately messaged me twice on the other forum, I had not checked in there so not seen them,and when I did check in he had also deleted his account there, they had got him to paint his baseboard a sand colour and were trying to help him glue down the track and add the sand, either he is very fragile or very impatient, but I am not a crutch I am afraid.
Still they managed to get him to the paint the baseboard,let’s hope he falls over another forum that can move him forward,one of his messages stated he was not offended by anyone here, I suspect as he had shown the same pictures here several times without moving forward he had hit a wall.
We can offer advice, people do not have to take specific advice, people do not even need a layout to be here on any other forum, but shoving up the pictures again and again without any resolution is Not productive.
I have trialed stuff over the years from different directions,water features particularly and not been pleased with the results,I just go try something more productive then when in the mood try again,sometimes distance is a great leveller.
ho hum.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Got a bit of shoveling done today on the driveway. Just can't seem to get excited about clearing the whole driveway. Just enough to get to the truck. It'll prolly all be melted by Thursday anyway. I want to be able to get out to the cigar lounge tomorrow afternoon though.
My daughter has lost all electric power today and was planning to just seal off one room with the fireplace to stay warm with the kids. Somehow the window screen on the fireplace got broke so she didn't want to have a fire going in there. Now they are just bundling up in blankets to stay warm. Still no power. Roads aren't plowed for her to come to my house.
My solar panels are under about 5" of snow so no output today. They should melt through tomorrow, and I'll be back in production.
Click to expand...
‘Sealing’ one room ie shutting a door will keep them warmer,sharing the blankets will be good,drink fluid even if not warm, and wear layers under the blankets,socks especially,those cheap metal warming blankets might be a good idea to stock up on,tell them to wear hats as you lose 25 percent of heat through your head,snacking will increase heat, but as you guys suffer much colder weather than us I am guessing this is obvious, do tell us when she is ok, they need a game to keep their spirits up,
I keep an emergency kit I update as the seasons change in the car and in the house,I’m guessing you people do that too cos breathing down in the weather you get cannot be fun.
as we live out in the ‘sticks’ we keep battery run lights on charge for such emergencies,although now we have the Tesla we would likely debunk to that if it got too cold here.I hate being cold and can’t imagine any much worse.
 
Alcomotive said:
Guy,

There are those who believe that. Then there are those who have a little experience. I usually do not take big fish of this magnitude when it comes to Salmon BUT if you fillet it and cut all the belly fat out, skim and cook it thoroughly you are good. I wouldn't eat large amounts of it at one time. Maybe a bit every other month. The contaminants people worry about is the mercury levels. Anyways, I prefer fish that are smaller like a year or 2 old. Like you mentioned the bigger they are they are older and the meat is mushy with belly fat. Which holds the bad stuff! It's like harvesting any other critter or fish the younger ones/adolescent years of the critter are better for ya. Just like beef or venison. Eventually man will realize to much of anything will kill ya but I use moderation to guide me. When I lived in Florida for 17 plus years I would harvest a great deal of different seafood such as snook, grouper, snapper, triple tail, tuna, bonito, redfish, lion fish, flounder, jacks etc. Even shellfish shrimp, stone crabs and lobsters. All in moderation and mix it up. I even harvested gator. The tail meat is incredible! Wild hogs/boars you name it...if it crawled flew or swam I probably ate it at one time or another lol Now I do eat my veggies too as I did grow gardens every year for some time as well. I didn't do a big garden last year but still did peppers, corn and taters and some maters too.
Click to expand...
What’s a mater.
 
Good morning Everybody!

I had a few appointments with potential clients yesterday in the DC suburbs. Of all days, I pick the one with 6-9 inches of snow! Good thing I bought the Equinox with all wheel drive. This thing is like a mountain goat and has great ground clearance. I never got stuck, but I saw dozens of cars, trucks and other SUVs stuck. I even saw a 6 wheel truck over turned on I 95 and countless other accidents. I did manage to bump a curb hidden in the snow. A trip that should have taken 4 hours, ended up taking over 6 hours! Average speed for the entire trip was 19MPH.

Can factory mag wheels be repaired to remove cosmetic damage? Oh well, the calls went well, the potential clients were impressed that I had kept my appointments despite the winter storm.

One business was closed yesterday, but I left my card and I will follow up with a phone call today. No credit for that company, strictly C.O.D for those I deem unreliable.

I'll profit more than enough to buy a dozen new wheels with just the first deal of what should be many from yesterday's efforts. I dont worry, its the cost of doing business. What can those wheels cost $300 each? Probably a lot more than that. I'm always way low when estimating the cost of things I have not bought in decades.

Boris, I have no problem telling people no. At this stage of my life I have almost mastered the art of "telling it like it is" regardless of who likes it.

Dave, I'm so very happy to be busy! 😁

Thank God for the strength and energy needed to keep busy and be productive. Not to mention my wife who makes me look even more productive than I am. My wife is the real MVP of our operation, I'm only be a shadow of my former self. Having my wife work with me full time has given me reason to believe my best days are still ahead of me, business wise that is. Money doesn't care how old and broken down you are.

It has only been since October 1, 2020 since my wife stated with me full time. That has resulted in five quarters of steady growth and higher profitability. Last quarter of 2021 profits more than tripped! The tax man is going to love us. Ill be so happy to write those checks to the IRS and the state of Maryland. I feel an audit coming.

Time to get busy.

Have a great day Everybody!
 
Good morning friends. The temperature is halfway up to today's forecast high of 42 with cloudy skies. Just looked outside and the truck windshield is frosted over, so gonna have to step out early and let it warm up before leaving for work.

Another aggravating day at work yesterday and hoping for better today. However, one good thing about working there is it's easy to find out about the stuff that goes on clearance that you can pick up real cheap. I've brought home a pretty good haul the last week or so without spending a lot of cash. The clearance price plus the employee discount makes it even better. Other than that, it's been the same old aggravation 🤣

Got home late from work yesterday so I didn't run any trains last night. I did purchase an Accurail 36' box car kit from a guy on the HO Swap mailing list. That kit is what I'm starting with as my 2022 challenge to actually start AND complete something model railroad related. I have always had a bad habit of starting something like that and then giving up or putting it aside. If all goes well with that I'd like to build a few others throughout the year. I just know that my biggest problem with modeling is patience. Wish me luck!

Nothing else to report. Hope you all have a great day!
 
McLeod said:
Tom - The flatcar loads are wonderful.
Click to expand...
Thank you.
NYC_George said:
Where did that scrap load come from?
George
Click to expand...
My neighbor has a machine shop, I go there time to time and get scrap from the milling machine.

Good morning....Warming up tonight into tomorrow then cold again.
Thanks for the likes on the pipe loads.I have an idea to try to make the tie down straps look more realistic. They have to be removable in order to take them to the club and shows.
Coffee Flo, need to get moving.
 
CambriaArea51 said:
Thank you.

My neighbor has a machine shop, I go there time to time and get scrap from the milling machine.

Good morning....Warming up tonight into tomorrow then cold again.
Thanks for the likes on the pipe loads.I have an idea to try to make the tie down straps look more realistic. They have to be removable in order to take them to the club and shows.
Coffee Flo, need to get moving.
Click to expand...
Well I guess you could package it up and sell it online. I'll buy two. How much you getting for one?
George
 
Morning RR fans! It is 35F here this morning - supposed to climb to 61F under a bright sunny sky.

I have caught TomO's non-sleeping aliment. Been up since 1:30 our time. Bad news - I have a list of projects, and will likely not get anything done!
Had a cup of coffee waiting on someone to open the door to the shop? Need another!
 
Well, howdy there, internet peeps and those who miss Christian's next photo of cactuses/cacti and dragons

It's Troy again

As for our departed Frenchman, I do miss him. After reading through the DCC forum posts he made, I see that he really doesn't have ANY desire to actually make a layout. It's not the modeling hobby he likes, but the running of trains. I can live with that. Hope he ventures back in. As of now, I do miss his cacti management skills.

Got the writing desk set, and working on getting it comfy. Unfortunately, the height of the chair needs to be adjusted between writing desk and hobby desk.

Screenshot 2022-01-04 at 7.07.09 AM.png


I did some hobby last night, trying to clear off the roman shields. I painted a metal edge around the shields. But, for metallic paints, I use old, dying brushes because the metallic flakes clog the brushes quickly. This means I have to touch up the sloppiness later today, before I can apply decals. But, I need to paint the shield bosses gold, too. That first, then touch up.

Some minor touchups are needed on the red parts of the shields before I can deploy the decals. (Americans: Read that last word like a Brit. We d to pronounce it as DEE-cals. Across the pond, it's de-CALS with a soft e sound). Things I never knew until the interwebz connected hobbyists on both sides of the world.

MIL UPDATE: Wife is still staying with her, and probably will next week as well. MIL still has her mind, but it's a bit mushy in the morning. Wife calls it Sun-Uppers, instead of Sundowners associated with some dementia patients.

MIL has a Doc appointment on Friday with her family doc. Then it's a trip up to the big city to view senior apts almost across the street from our condos. I asked wife if she's ok walking there.

She made one of those pfssh! are you kidding me noises. She walks a minimum of 3 miles a day in one go. It will only be about a mile to get to the backside of that complex. AND, it has both assisted living and senior apts (nice 1&2 bedrooms with attached garages. They're in a duplex arrangement. Two units together, a gap, then two more units. "Semi-detached" in the British lexicon, I believe.

They're hoping the Doc can evaluate MIL for a temporary stay in assisted living re long-covid. That will give the daughters some breathing room. MIL is accepting the idea that it's time to sell the family homestead. Being a mile away from one daughter, and a few miles away from the other one is starting to appeal to her. The current drive time is about 45 minutes to get down to her place - IF the roads aren't icy.

So, we're in a holding pattern for another week or so, but things are moving.

Home health is sending out various therapists to work with MIL on regaining mobility, balance, ability to swallow and such.

That's all for now. Got to get back to the writing grindstone.
 
Morning all,

Not much train happenings yesterday or today. Between getting home late (I was the only IT person in yesterday as the boss was off through today, our new tech has Covid and who knows where the ops assistant was as he always seems to disappear when the boss is out) So hopefully a quieter day today.

Guy: You make an interesting point on model building. When I was in HS, I was pretty heavy into Lionel trains (late 70's), and was building stuff from scratch as I couldn't get buildings and such as readily as we can now. As I recall that's what I liked most about the hobby. I even built a couple of railroad cars using the trucks from broken cars.

Not much yet this morning...BBL
 
Good Morning all!

20F and clear. Had about 6" of white yesterday for a total of about 16". More coming according to the weather guesser.

Everything has settled down to the normal roar. Kids and grandkids gone. Grandkids did Amtrak from Libby to Everett, WA and got stuck up Stevens Pass somewhere with a downed tree across the tracks. Could not get anybody to that area to cut it away. Wife told me that they were there for about 6 hours, not sure when they actually got to Everett.

I have gotten my shop area almost clear enough that I can actually do stuff. While on the road the last few years I bought stuff that I thought/knew I would need for creating a MRR and other projects. It just got piled in to where there were only narrow paths to get around stuff. On top of that, the shop became a dumping ground for stuff that was not wanted in the house. Sorting that stuff also. Garage sale in the spring. Got the 12' counter top clear and plan to make supports for it today. Might actually be able to see the floor after stuff gets stored on/in it! Tables with wheels are in the works for the table saw, jointer and planer where I can move them closer to the dust collector when needed. Dust collector is on wheels, but already connected via galvanized pipe to table router, belt sander, laser cutter and chop saws already on benches. Geesh, I got that much stuff - amazing. Maybe I went overboard?

Enjoy your day!
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 32° on the way up to 63° later today. Then it's another roller coaster week, going down to 21° Thursday, up to 65° Saturday, etc.

Finally did the belated Christmas get-together with our two daughters and their families yesterday evening. Drinks and appetizers, gift exchange, then prime rib dinner with the usual trimmings and wine. Dessert with champagne, see below. I mostly received train stuff and a new supply of tee shirts.

An auspicious day today as I celebrate the completion of the year 70 around the sun. Notable birthday gift last night was a $50 gift certificate to the LHS. Inching forward although I don't think that I will catch up to Sherrel anytime soon.

Regarding dental implants: I am really pleased with mine. Pricey, yes. The dentist that I see is really a high class guy and was very upfront about the implants and other options. I have had no issues, and I was accepting of the long wait between the various phases of surgery. We spread it out over three years and did a few crowns in between. That way my measly dental insurance covered part of it at the rate of $1500 a year. Two of the crowns eventually broke because he said that the lab that made them took some shortcuts. He replaced both of them at no charge, and he said that he quit using that lab prior to either of mine breaking. He verified that none of my remaining seven were made by that lab. Regarding the high cost, I understand his position. Prior to taking on a partner recently, he had eight staff members to support, including two hygienists. In addition to the added dentist, he had to hire three more staff members and equip two more rooms with stuff. Besides being a dentist, he is also an oral surgeon so it is a one-stop shop. Sorry to read of other's misfortunes with theirs.

Thanks once again for the likes and comments regarding the Bar Mills structure from the archives; James, Guy, Patrick, Karl, Steve J, Dave, Chad, Sherrel, Justin, Hughie, Gary, Jaz, Curt, Louis, Tom, Rick, OB Ken.

Make it a Mexican omelet this morning Flo. Spicy salsa and OJ to go with it.

No train shed time yesterday due to being out of town. No pictures today either, as my wife is calling and I don't have time to search the archives. Sorry about that Guy!

OB Ken -
OBTC 1909 said:
After a few days off I start wishing I could re-retire, but the cost of health care doesn't allow sadly.
Click to expand...
Sadly I thought that the Affordable Care Act was supposed to take care of that. Maybe just for illegal immigrants?
Patrick - Coming along nicely on the handrails.
Tom O - Excellent scrap loads and weathered gondolas.
George - Sorry to read of your delays with the implants, but if your jaw isn't ready, then it is best to wait, rather than to have a negative experience.
Tom - I like both the scrap loads and the pipe loads. It was dumb of me to not realize the value of the scraps from the machine shop when I still worked. We had an extensive one and I saw those scraps under the milling machines all of the time. At least I got over a dozen small blocks of tool steel that I use as weights and props when I build models.
Hughie - What a great story about your grandfather. My father's father invented the Heisman Trophy as part of a team at the Downtown Athletic Club in NYC, back in '35. As part of our family heirlooms, we have autographed programs from the first seven recipients.
Guy - I do use Woodland Scenics fine ballast for gravel roads. For asphalt roads, I mostly use tar paper, sometimes called roofing felt, for those roads. A few that are in the far reaches of the layout are just asphalt paint directly on plywood, as are a few parking lots. I have a partial roll of the tar paper leftover from home repairs, but one could easily pick up scraps from a residential building site, at least here in the states.
Troy - The plan for the MIL seems to be an ideal one. Now the hard part, implementation.
Moermusic - Now that's just dumb to get a finger caught in a log splitter. All of the ones that I have seen had two-handed controls to prevent that. They must have been operating together. Still dumb.

If I recall correctly, today is the latest sunrise of the year. While the daylight hours have been getting longer, it's because the sunsets have been getting later. Earliest sunset was about two weeks prior to the solstice on December 7.
Everybody have a great day. Stay safe and warm.
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Clear and 32° on the way up to 63° later today. Then it's another roller coaster week, going down to 21° Thursday, up to 65° Saturday, etc.

Finally did the belated Christmas get-together with our two daughters and their families yesterday evening. Drinks and appetizers, gift exchange, then prime rib dinner with the usual trimmings and wine. Dessert with champagne, see below. I mostly received train stuff and a new supply of tee shirts.

Willie - being on the road we have acquired 100's of tee shirts from all over the USofA. I don't think I will EVER have to buy any. Well, going out again March/April for the summer and probably will up the supply a little, then we are done. Good job on your 70th orbit. Did my 69th last month.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.



Back
Top